The present disclosure relates generally to information handling systems, and more particularly to the use of data holes in storage class memory devices as a backing store for management data for using in managing information handling systems.
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Information handling systems such as, for example, server devices, are typically managed in order to update firmware, restore platforms, retrieve server event/error logs, retrieve or update boot configuration data, and/or provide for a variety of other server management activities known in the art. In conventional systems, server devices include a remote access controller (e.g., a Dell Remote Access Controller (DRAC) or integrated DRAC (iDRAC) available from DELL® Technolgoies of Round Rock, Tex., United States) that performs much of the management for the server device, and most (and typically all) of the management data used for performing out-of-band server management activities (e.g., firmware image data, platform restore data, server event/error logs, boot configuration data, etc.) is stored in a “backing store” provided on a remote access controller storage subsystem that is controlled by the remote access controller, which raises a number of issues. For example, when updates are performed on the server device, management data (e.g., firmware images) is first copied to the remote access controller storage subsystem, and then during the subsequent reboot of the server, that management data is then copied from the remote access controller storage subsystem to the server device (and sometimes then to target devices) so that the update can be performed using the management data. Such techniques are inefficient, as the management data is used to provide an update on the server device or a target device coupled to the server device, but must first be copied to the remote access controller storage subsystem, then to the server device, and then sometimes to the target device to perform the update operations.
In a specific example, an iDRAC is provided as the remote access controller and utilizes a 4 GB embedded Multi-Media Controller (eMMC) flash card as its remote access controller storage subsystem. That eMMC flash card stores a managed storage and repository (MASER) partition that provides the backing store and that includes resources such as, for example, TSR resources, LC resources, LC configuration resources, LC archive resources, diagnostic resources, driver resources, firmware image resources, personality module resources, and/or a variety of other resource known in the art. The copying of the contents of those resources between the eMMC flash card and the server device may require communications back and forth between any of a Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) application, a data access Application Programming Interface (API), a communications Shared Memory Architecture (SMA) client via a communications channel to a communications server, another data access API, and a MASER data access service. In such examples, in addition to the inefficiencies discussed above, the use of SMA provides for a relatively slow data transfer channel that delays the update of the server device or target device. Furthermore, if the eMMC flash card (or other remote access controller storage subsystem) becomes corrupted, the update will fail, and the additional costs associated with providing a backup eMMC flash card usually results in no redundant copy of the resources being available.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an improved server device management system.